My First ATC

Definitely my favorite part about papercrafting is the social aspect of it. Scrapbooking is at its best when I am surrounded by all my friends as we ask for each other's advice on color coordination or embellishment selection and then "ooh" and "ahh" at each other's final project.

Then I learned about ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) where you make a collage out of anything on a small playing card sized cardstock and then trade them amongst other artists. My favorite part is that they are so quick to make and in no time you can feel proud about your latest creation. Then you get to trade them and show off what you made, what fun! This was an even more social aspect of papercrafting and something I felt drawn to right away.

I recently joined a Tim Holtz fan club group and chose to participate in my very first ATC swap with my fellow Tim Holtz fans using Tim's techniques and any of his products or the Ranger product line. My favorite products are the Ranger Acrylic Paint Dabbers and chose to use those to make my first ATC card. The theme of the swap was contact information, so this card has information about me and my blog.

I used Acrylic paint on the ATC background. Die cut some corner embellishments, medallion circle, and swirl and then used Acrylic paint on those as well. Finally I printed out my contact information and an Ibis bird image for the focalpoint and gave those an acrylic paint treatment as well. And I proudly submitted a set of these for exchange.

When I got back the ATCs that the other artists had made, I realized just how amazing these artists are and that there are so much more possibilities when making ATCs. This group is truly inspiring and my next ATCs will need to step up a notch, in my opinion, lol! Looks like a personal challenge I'll enjoy. Practice makes perfect, they say. I can't wait to try some new ATC styles and techniques!